Just a heads up on a property scam thats happening in Sheffield, it nearly got me and my missus. Mainly using Gumtree.com, beautiful property (normally modern furnished flats in the city center) will be listed with a detailed explanation but very suspiciously cheap.

The scammer will correspond with you at great length and spout some nonsense about how he/she is working/living abroad and will need to fly to the U.K to show you the flat - they will demmand to see a Money Gram or Western Union receipt for the deposit/bond sent to a friend or loved one to verify you are good for the cash so as not to waste their time and money flying over. They then take your scanned in receipt and get their dodgy mate at the post office to cash it pretending to be you, so watch out!!

For more information, examples of the postings and the type of emails you'll receive from these theiving muggers is listed on this gumtree forum. Some of these poor folks have been bumped for over a grand by this scam.

The Sheff Forum wont let me post a link to the gumtree forum because I've not made enough posts yet, but simply google 'Gumtree property scam', hit the first link and follow the link posted by the user 'the_tidy_kiwi'.
So beware!!! ANYTHING to do with Money Gram or Western Union, anything on Gumtree that doesn't sound quite right steer well clear of.
If it sounds too good to be true, it probably bloody is!!!!

I have just been contacted by a person through Gumtree asking for the 1st months rent and the deposit to be wired to a weston union bank account without even viewing the property! I had placed an ad on the website saying we are looking for a house then i received an e-mail saying "he had what i was looking for"...after trying to get further details from the person i was asked to pay the money!

I was about to set up a warning but then realised someone already had, i obviously should have come on here first!

Please be careful! I have copied the e-mail i received below, Funny how he says flat when he told me it was a house to start with...:

"Hello
I am giving this flat away just because no one is making use of the
house at the moment. and i hate to see it dirty every time. Its better
for me to let it out to someone who will make it clean and tidy. I
hope you understand this. Well, Viewing the house is not a problem.
But i will like you to do a thing. I guess you will understand this.
It's in the policy my Lawyer has told me and i wish to abide by it. I
won't get any money from you now. So you will do a thing to make me
believe you really need the Apartment.I have been fooled several times
and I had to travel a long journey with my Lawyer to meet people who
wants to view my property and at the end of the day they tell me they
want to stay in the apartment for a month before they would pay me. I
don't want this to happen to me again so My Lawyer has advised me that
I have to be sure that who so ever is renting my property should be
capable of paying the cost of the rent.
You will go to the nearest WESTERN UNION MONEY TRANSFER around
you,Send to your Friend send the sum 1200pounds in WESTERN UNION. The
money is still within you. I am not ready to get money from you as i
have said. All I need to see is the WESTERN UNION copy of receipt
giving to you. Scan the WESTERN UNION receipt and send it as an
attachment to my email just for me to view it and be sure you are
ready to get the Flat. after viewing the FLAT, and you really like it,
You can go together to the WESTERN UNION location agent or bank around
here to get the 1200 pounds back and we can reach an agreement on how
you will move into the Flat. I will pay back to you the charges you
will be using in sending the money in WESTERN UNION. If you don't
understand, Here is an examples of how to do it....

SENDERS NAME....................YOUR NAME
RECEIVER' NAME...................YOUR FRIEND NAME.
AMOUNT SENT.....................1200POUNDS.

and scan the copy of receipt to me in an email just for me to view it.
and then i can pick you up and show you the Flat.
Best Regards."

I have to say after reading the email anyone who falls for this, deserves it in a little way as its got scam written all over it.

One more thing if you do get emails like that, lead tem on. Maybe they will get fed up and move onto something else.

Ive have had several of these, after posting about 12 ads on gumtree in the last 6 weeks.
You can normally tell straight away now, with the actual email address they use/how they write/the pictures always look too good.
That and they try and offer you exactly what you want from your ad.

i hav had the same scam tryed on me several emails diferent names wth the western union ive reported it 2 the police and gum tree

they even gave me a tel number 2 fone they r a sick *******

Thanks for the post, I know estate agents are a bit of a rip off but at least you know what you are getting eh?

There has been at least one attempt at this scam vis this forum, so please be aware. Maybe a mod should put a sticky up to warn people?

hi this guy as tryed the same scam wth me 3 times he used 3 diferent names the pics he sends u r from a magazine he even gave me a adress of the house there is no sutch property i hope they catch him u all take care maria

anything to do with western union is 99% a nigerian scam...
they have done it for yrs in various things....

u would never hand over a penny until u have seen the property and have
keys in hand....i wouldnt anyway..

i new it was a scam as soon as he sent msg he told me he was from bristol i played along wth him even gt a mobi number i would never ever give money 4 a property until i new it was mine and all legal they r playing on people who r wanting a house i put a post on because im trying 2 get 2 eckington 2 b close 2 family 4 suport wth my autistic son

I have just had this stupid man three times using different time trying to scam me for a property that didn't even exist. The email is the same as many people above:

"Hello,

You have to prove that you can afford the rent before you can View my
property.Viewing my Property is not a Problem but i will like you to do a
thing. I guess you will understand this. It's in the policy my Solicitors
has told me and i wish to abide by it. I won't get any money from you now.
So you will do a thing to make me believe you really need the Property.I
have been fooled several times and I had to travel a long journey with my
Solicitors to meet people who wants to view my property and at the end of
the day they tell me they want to stay in the property for a month before
they would pay me. I don't want this to happen to me again so My Solicitors
has advised me that I have to be sure that who so ever is renting my
property should be capable of paying the cost of the rent.
You will go to the nearest WESTERN UNION MONEY TRANSFER around you,Send
to your Friend send the sum 1100pounds in western union. The money is still
within you. I am not ready to get money from you as i have said. All I need
to see is the western union money transfer copy of receipt giving to
you.Scan the western union receipt and send it as an attachment to my email
just for me to view it and be sure you are ready to get the Property. after
viewing the Property, and you really like it, You can go to the western
union location agent or bank around here to get the 1100 pounds back and we
can reach an agreement on how you will move into the property. I will refund
the Western Union charges back to you during the Viewing day. If you don't
understand, Here is an examples of how to do it....

SENDERS NAME....................YOUR NAME
RECEIVER' NAME...................YOUR FRIEND NAME.
AMOUNT SENT.....................1100POUNDS.

and scan the copy of receipt to me in an email just for me to view it.and
then i can pick you up and show you the Property.
Best Regards."


Be aware of this people, I contacted the police for advice but unfortunately they cannot do anything unless something happens!!!!!!

i have never used them but ive come across loads of scams by scammers using western union payment methods, mainly on ebay i think the reason the scammers use western union is because security checks dont happen or something like that making it a good payment system for a scammer, i wouldnt use western union if if it was genuine just to be on the safe side

Hahahaha the only thing I find shocking about this is that people have actually fallen for it!! Have people REALLY actually done what this person asked?!! Even reading the email, I read it in Fonejackers accent!! Hahahahaa!!

Theres too many time wasters on there too. I get loads of emails saying ''I have a property. contact me for more information''. Usually the spelling is really bad aswell. Pity they have nothing better to do.

I posted an ad in the 'wanted' section for a property to let. I've had 2 responses. After a little correspondence, both emailers gave me false addresses for their properties.

One told me their 3 bedroom house was at 49 Ecclesall Road, which is approximately the Peugeot garage, although there is no adress registered at that number, but gave me the postcode for an address near Rustlings Road. The other response gave me their property's postcode, which I looked up and found to belong only to Notre Dame School.

Time wasters!!!

My name's Mark, I'm a journalist for the BBC. I was nearly taken in by a Gumtree ad for really good value accommodation in Sheffield. It was asking for money to be paid by Western Union which rang alarm bells and fortunately I worked out it was a scam.

Do you know anyone who has actually been scammed in this way? I'd like to do a story on these scams for BBC Radio but need case studies (ie. people that have paid the money to Western Union or equivalent) who would be willing to be interviewed.

If you know anyone, please contact me on my work email address: mark.ansell@bbc.co.uk

Thanks.

Mark

Mod Note

The use of txtspeak abbreviations is against site rules, please stick to plain english

whats "TXTSPEAK abreviations"????? is that like abbreviation used for texting on mobiles?

whats "TXTSPEAK abreviations"????? is that like abbreviation used for texting on mobiles?

It's like this: im trying 2 get 2 eckington 2 b close 2 family

I think I'd "fall" for this, and send excrement.

How could anyone with any sense fall for this? It's so badly written and asks for money upfront, sometimes I think people just want to give their money away!

Yea, it still happens, but when the Reverand emailed me and asked for references, pics of me and my missus naked and a scan of my bank card, i felt he had to be sincere, didnt he?

I just had this:-

Mr Carrick who sounds rather Asian! on gumtree!! Beware!!

http://sheffield.gumtree.com/sheffield/55/70620155.html


Thanks for getting back to me. I would have loved to schedule a viewing with you directly or ask for your bank statement or any other means of making a confirmation of your financial ability to rent my flat but as i stated in my previous email that i have been disappointed in so many ways when it comes to viewing or reservation and the idea of making a confirmation of your financial ability to rent my flat is not my idea and i wouldn't want to violate my lawyer's procedure because he's my personal legal adviser.

However, i will like you to know that the tenant that left my flat some couple of weeks ago pass through the same procedure and there was know any problem. Furthermore, i didn't want to collect any money from you as long as you have not sign a contract neither have i taken you round my flat. All what i request of you is to transfer the deposit to someone close to you through Western union money transfer agent, once you've done that, you get back to me with a scan copy of the transfer receipt so that i can forward it to my lawyer to confirm if the transfer is valid.

After the confirmation might have been made by my lawyer, i will ask you to tell you friend to pick up the money and schedule a convenient day for the viewing. If eventually you don't want to proceed with the rent, i promise to return the cost of the transfer without any deduction.

I look forward to reading from you soon.

Regards
Mr/Mrs Carrick

Any 1 falling for this with a serious disability just doesn't need a place among the civilised. Remember the old rule of "if it looks too good!!"

You will notice there is also a scam add for cars on gumtree, I once posted a helpful add to help people notice which adds were scams and got 3 thank you emails from people who had no idea and 1 of hate from some a*se who felt I had potentially ruined his own add. gumtree later removed it but left the scam add on...

2006 316 BMW £1600 was 1 of those adds...

2003 x5 £1350 was another...

they mise well but Ferrari £5 and it still couldn't be any more obvious.